


Menace

by diamondgore



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Drabble, Other, Set in Boston, Sightseeing, Tourism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23410609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondgore/pseuds/diamondgore
Summary: Elias swears off doing any random act of kindness in the near future.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Menace

**Author's Note:**

> I have only listened to three episodes of TMA and this came to me.

Traveling is a nuisance and Elias treats it as such. Flying across the Atlantic is even more of a pain in the ass than he expects, but he does it anyway to keep the Americans he’s working with happy. He doesn’t understand the appeal of having an international program, why would people go to the New World to study magic when the world of the paranormal was more accessible in Europe? Wasn’t it bad enough he had to travel down to Germany and Austria last month to secure his connections there? 

There had to be a better way to go about it, but he is just out of the loop for the time being.

He had been in Boston for most of the week, taking a few trips from there up north and down south to talk to different Institutes about collaborations, and most of them had told him they will get back to him soon. He isn’t in a rush to get back to London, as he would have to adjust from the jetlag he had just gotten over, but he would appreciate a higher level of cooperation from them, but for the time being he’d let it go.

There is a lot of sightseeing to do in Boston, however, it reminds him too much of London for him to take an active interest in it. So, instead of wasting his time on one a Duckboat tour, Elias spends his afternoon in a baseball game that ran quite a bit longer than he expects. He finds the experiencing thrilling, though he doesn’t quite understand the rules of the game. It was just an experience for the sake of it. 

When the game was done and over with, he walks around Boston for the better part of the evening, walking around the city but staying mostly around the Commons and Newbury street. There are a lot of shops in the area that he could only dream of affording on his salary, but most of the ones that caught his eyes were ones where he bought little trinkets from to decorate his desk back home. 

After exhausting himself with his own walking tour of Boston, he finds himself in an Irish Pub, sadly snapping mozzarella sticks in half. He eats slowly as he listens to the other patrons talk about schoolwork and sports. The TV plays some news from earlier, he read the paper this morning, so there isn’t anything that catches his attention too much, so his only form of entertainment is the mozzarella sticks. 

He pays for his meal, somewhat satisfied. The meal was too salty for his liking, but two glasses of water, and a pint of beer help take away the taste. When he steps outside into the crisp spring air, he can accept traveling for a brisk moment, as he has heard that the rain has been non-stop back in London. Here he could enjoy a cigarette without being bothered to find shelter.

The downside is he has to be ten feet away from the entrance of the pub. While he can indulge himself in a smoke while he walked back to his hotel room near Fenway, he it would be either to just slink into one of the alleys and burn through one very quickly.

Elias really should stop smoking these things, from the recent studies they were a toxic cariogenic, but quitting is something he put at the back of his head these days, despite the fact that it would save him a ton of money on his monthly bills. He finds a nice place to smoke behind the pub, which isn’t too close to the wafting smell of decaying food, and lights a cigarette with a match, considering his lighter was confiscated at airport security.

He takes in a deep drag, and blows the smoke all out, before he hears a rustling sound coming from the shadows. First, he assumes that it must be the wind, surely it has to be, but then he considers that it might be a man coming down the alley to take out the garbage. When no man comes down, he decides to allow his curiosity to lead the way.

He thinks to himself, that it cannot be a predator or a paranormal spirit. Not during this time of night, at least, it’s far too early. But the further he walks, the more the lights dim. He likes his chances of this being a harmless encounter.

In the darkness of the night, he can see a shadow by the garbage, something with hands waiting for him. _So, it must be human_. He walks towards it slowly, as he didn’t want to scare it off.

“Would you like a cigarette?” He offers, extending his hands to the darkness. He swears he can see something shiny at the corner of his eyes, when the direction of lights changes. Elias tries to smile, attempting to show a kinder side of his self. His smile has always been described as wicked, despite this.

At this point, Elias is barely a meter away with his hand outstretched in front of him. The thing shifts in the dark for a moment, before lurching forward to his hand and attacking him.

It’s hard to figure out what’s happening in the dark, but this thing definitely has teeth, and it definitely had fingers, but it was somehow much, much smaller than the average human. It wasn’t a cat, and cats didn’t usually jump him. Even the feral colonies that lived around the campus left him in peace.

Elias drops his lit cigarette from his mouth when the creature attacked his chest, it didn’t draw blood, but with its lethal claws it might as well have. It takes a few minutes of struggling with the beast to pull him off and then move towards the light. The creature is still clawing at him, but he puts just enough distance between them that he can’t get hurt.

In the light, it’s clear that the animal is a raccoon. Soft, furry, and cute if it had not just mauled Elias’ purple dress shirt. He drops it to the floor, and it runs away from him, going back to the darkness to where it came from.

Elias swears off doing any random act of kindness in the near future.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @[diamondgore](https://diamondgore.tumblr.com/) & on twitter @[unworthingtons](https://twitter.com/unworthingtons).


End file.
